Video Cassette, Television, Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), and Satellite video sources come in several formats with different aspect ratios. The conventional 4:3 aspect ratio format is proposed to be replaced with a 16:9 aspect ratio format for High Definition Television (HDTV). Movies on DVD may be formatted in ‘wide screen’, also known as ‘letterbox’, which is yet another aspect ratio.
With the abundance of contemporary signal and data formats for images, there is a need to properly and easily configure the size of images to match display screens. Users typically have a single display device having one fixed aspect ratio, and although projector systems allow for variable aspect ratio outputs, the user typically has a single screen with a fixed aspect ratio. It is difficult for the user to configure a video signal having one aspect ratio to a display device with a different aspect ratio. Several past approaches for helping users properly configure the video signal to the display device have frustrated the user, and in some cases have caused the user to return their newly purchased display device. The requirement to properly match an image to a display is a common problem. For example, improper matching occurs when the user of a 16:9 aspect ratio HDTV attempts to display an incoming signal of a standard TV broadcast having a 4:3 aspect ratio. The first number in the aspect ratio refers to the relative horizontal length of the displayed image, while the second number represents the relative vertical height of the image. In this case, the 4:3 aspect ratio signal cannot be sized to directly fit the 16:9 aspect ratio display since the aspect ratios are not exactly matched.
A typical approach for helping users properly configure a video signal to the display device is shown in FIG. 1 for example using the Hewlett-Packard VP 6320 projector. FIG. 1 shows a display 10 comprising a screen 15 displaying an image 20, where a display processor can accept commands from a remote control 102. The remote control 102 has directional control buttons, 104, 106, 108, and 110, and a menu (M) button 113. Generally, there are many other buttons on the remote control 102; for example, to adjust volume, select the channel, etc., but these have been omitted for clarity. When the menu (M) button 113 on the remote control 102 is pressed, a pop-up window 114 appears on the screen 15, typically within the image 20 on the display 10. In this example, the pop-up window 114 displays six text choices for sizing the image 20 to the screen 15. The directional control buttons, 104, 106, 108, and 110 on the remote control 102 are used to navigate through these text choices. The text describes to the user how the image 20 will be sized to the screen 15. When the text choices are navigated, one of the choices is highlighted 115, and the image 20 is automatically sized to the screen 15. Typically, these text words are cryptic or not very useful. For example, in this case, the ‘Normal’ 116 option is highlighted. ‘Normal’ does not resize or reprocess the image signal to specifically fit the aspect ratio of the image 20 to the screen 15.screen. If another choice, for example, such as ‘wide’ 117 were highlighted, the image would automatically be sized in a ‘wide’ format. If yet another choice were highlighted by navigation, the image 20 would automatically be resized based on that choice. Clearly, the text description of ‘Normal’ 116 offers little insight to the user as to how the image 20 will be sized to the display 10. The text description ‘wide’ 117 hints that the picture may be somewhat wider in the horizontal direction than the vertical, but not how much, and likewise, the other text choices are marginally helpful. As a result, many users do not attempt to properly size the image to the display; rather the users just accept the displayed image with the potential of being dissatisfied and frustrated with the result. A more determined user may choose to experiment with the display options by cycling through the options several times, memorizing the effects along the way, attempting to gain insight and possibly coming upon an acceptably sized image 20 in the process.
If an intuitive user interface to properly configure a video signal to a display device is not developed, widespread acceptance of new display devices, such as High Definition Televisions, will be hindered or delayed.